Learn a fact, earn your time.
Bauble blocks your distracting apps on rules you set. To get back in early, read one short, genuinely interesting fact and answer a single question about it. Get it right — the fact joins your collection, and your apps unlock for the minutes you chose.
iPhone & Mac · Offline-first · No ads, no analytics
Honey Never Spoils
Archaeologists have opened Egyptian tombs and found pots of honey over 3,000 years old — still perfectly edible. Honey's low moisture and high acidity make it a place where almost nothing can grow.
Why can honey last for millennia without spoiling?
Screen time you have to earn — and actually enjoy earning.
No willpower required, no guilt-trip graphs. Just one good question between you and the scroll — the more you learn, the more time you earn.
Set your rules
Each rule blocks its own set of apps — even websites in Safari — on its own days and hours. Start from a template like Work Time, Sleep Assistant, or Doomscroll Detox, or build your own. Built on Apple's Screen Time frameworks, with a pause switch for days off.
Draw a card
Try a blocked app and the shield turns you away with a quirky note instead of the feed. Open Bauble and draw a card — a short, genuinely interesting fact, a couple of sentences on something a little obscure.
Answer to unlock
One question checks you actually read it. Get it right: the card is stamped into your collection and your apps unlock for the minutes you set per answer. Get it wrong: see why, then draw a fresh card.
Everything a well-kept collection needs.
Blocking rules
Rules for every rhythm — each with its own apps, sites, days, and hours, powered by Apple's Family Controls. Outside your windows, your apps are simply yours.
Fact-quiz unlock
Read a short fact, answer one question, earn the minutes you chose per correct answer. Wrong answers show the explanation — then a new card.
Fact collection
Every fact you collect becomes a numbered card, filed into category packs. A collection that's genuinely nice to browse.
Dashboard & streaks
Facts learned, day streak, accuracy — your week at a glance. Quiet stats — no confetti, no shame spirals.
Focus timer dial
Trace the ring to dial a session. A focus session blocks every enabled rule's apps at once, until the timer runs out.
Hard mode
For the truly committed: flip it on and a focus session stays locked until the timer ends — collecting facts won't earn a break.
Offline-first & private
The whole block-and-quiz loop works in airplane mode. No ads, no analytics SDKs, and your Screen Time data never leaves your device.
Optional sync
Sign in with Apple to back up your collection and quiz history across devices. Entirely optional — the core app never needs an account.
The MCAT Psych/Soc pack: study every time you try to scroll.
401 question-first behavioral-sciences cards covering sensation & perception, states of consciousness & sleep, and psychoactive drugs — written to test recall first, then teach.
Set Bauble to guard Instagram and TikTok, choose the MCAT pack, and every "just five minutes" becomes a review rep. You answer first; if you miss, the explanation of the right answer appears before you move on. Prep that happens at the exact moment you were about to waste time.
Retinal disparity and convergence both give us a sense of depth. What kind of cues are they?
Retinal disparity and convergence are binocular cues: both depend on comparing input from two eyes to judge depth.
Your Anki decks, filed straight into your collection.
Years of carefully built Anki decks shouldn't live in a separate app from your screen-time goals. Import any .apkg file and Bauble turns it into flashcard decks you can study — or put between yourself and your distractions.
- Full .apkg import — decks, notes, and media parsed directly from the file you export out of Anki.
-
Cloze deletions supported — your
{{c1::…}}cards render as proper fill-in-the-blank prompts. - Spaced repetition built in — cards are scheduled so the ones you're about to forget come back first.
- 100% on-device — imported decks are processed and stored on your iPhone and never uploaded anywhere.
Packs included with the app.
Hand-written information packs that ship with Bauble and work fully offline. Fun Facts and Geometry are free; Bauble Premium unlocks every pack — and every new pack the day it lands.
MCAT Psych/Soc
Question-first behavioral sciences review: perception, consciousness, sleep, and psychoactive drugs.
Personal Finance
The math of growing money — time value of money, compound interest, and future value, one card at a time.
Fun Facts
The small, strange truths that don't fit anywhere else — filed one card at a time.
Geometry
Shapes, angles, and the surprising rules that bend once you leave the flat page.
Questions, answered.
Does Bauble need an internet connection?
No. Blocking, the fact-quiz unlock loop, all bundled packs, and imported flashcards work entirely offline — airplane mode included. Only the optional account sync and subscription verification touch the network.
What happens if I answer a question wrong?
You see the correct answer and a short explanation, and the apps stay locked. Then you draw a different card — no re-attempting the same question, because the point is that you actually read it.
Is Bauble free?
The core loop is — blocking rules, the fact-quiz unlock, the Fun Facts and Geometry packs, and the collection. Bauble Premium unlocks every pack, unlimited Anki decks, and unlimited blocking rules: $8.99 a month or $59.99 a year (US pricing; the App Store shows your local price).
Can I pause blocking for a day off?
Yes, with a plainly visible pause toggle. Bauble is a self-management tool, not a warden — fighting you isn't the goal.
Can Bauble see which apps I block or use?
No. App selections are stored as opaque tokens by Apple's Family Controls framework, and all Screen Time data stays on your device. It is never transmitted to us or anyone else — we couldn't read it even if we wanted to.
Is Bauble affiliated with the MCAT or the AAMC?
No. The MCAT Psych/Soc pack is independent study material. Bauble is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the AAMC or any examination body, and we make no promises about test scores.
Trade minutes for marvels.
Bauble is on the App Store for iPhone and Mac. Free to start — blocking rules, the fact-quiz unlock, and your first packs are included.
